Single serving beverage dispensing machines are very popular because they provide a fresh tasting beverage quickly without having to produce multiple servings. Single serving beverages such as coffee are typically produced by beverage dispensing machines that use beverage cartridges holding beverage products.
When operating a beverage dispensing machine of this nature, a user typically loads a new cartridge into a cartridge holder located in a glide mechanism and slides the mechanism into place. Once in place, the beverage making process can begin. Generally, a liquid under pressure is injected into the cartridge through the beverage product and the beverage is extracted from the bottom of the cartridge.
Following production of the beverage, the used cartridge must be ejected. Existing methods of cartridge ejection can be unreliable. Some methods rely on gravity to dislodge the cartridge by flipping over the cartridge holder. The cartridge may not fall out of the cartridge holder easily if the cartridge and cartridge holder are not completely clean and free of debris. Therefore, it is desirable to produce a reliable cartridge ejector mechanism.
Additionally, typical beverage dispensing machines of this nature do not have a means to stop a user from retracting the glide mechanism during the operation of the machine. In the case that a user accidentally pulls the cartridge out of position, the process will be forced to stop mid-cycle. Therefore, the partially used cartridge and any beverage that has already been produced will be wasted. It is also possible that the equipment may become jammed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel cartridge ejector mechanism for a beverage dispensing machine that obviates or mitigates at least one of the above disadvantages.